page_title: Chen Clan Ancestral Hall
section_title: Structure
hierarchical_section_title: Chen Clan Ancestral Hall / Structure
caption_attribution_description: English: Tablet of Chen Clan Academy
context_page_description: The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall or Chen Clan Academy is an academic temple in Guangzhou, China, built by the 72 Chen clans for their juniors' accommodation and preparation for the imperial examinations in 1894 in Qing Dynasty. Later it was changed to be the Chen Clan's Industry College, and then middle schools afterward. Now it houses the Guangdong Folk Art Museum.
  Located at Zhongshan 7th Road, the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is a symmetric complex consist of 19 buildings with nine halls and six courtyards. Facing south, the complex forms around a north-south axis. A large collection of southern China art pieces, for example, wood carvings and pottery, can be found in the structure. The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall complex exemplifies traditional Chinese architecture and decoration style, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments worldwide. It was added in the list of "Cultural Relics of National Importance under the Protection of the State" in 1988.
context_section_description: The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is a traditional Chinese academic complex covering 13200 square meters. The complex consists of 19 buildings with nine halls and six courtyards which are connected by corridors and ride north to south in a symmetric pattern. On the main axis lie the Head-entrance (Chinese: 頭門), the Gathering Hall (Chinese: 聚賢堂) and the Back Hall (Chinese: 後堂). These three main buildings are separated with courtyards.
   
  The Head-entrance is 27.56 meters wide and 14.91 meters deep with 17 columns, all decorated with flowers and figures. On the top of the gate of the Head-entrance hangs a tablet with words 陳氏書院, meaning "Chen Clan Academy". On the sides of the gate sit stone mats and a pair of 2.25-meter-high (7.4 ft) stone drums. River gods are painted in color on the gate. Inside the gate there are four double-side engraved screen. The main beams are decorated with birds, flowers, human figures plasters, bats and lions. 
  The Gathering Hall was once a place for meeting and worship of the Chen clansmen and now it is used as an ancestral hall. It is 27.84 meters wide and 16.7 meters deep with 21 main beams and 6 carved stone columns. In front of the hall lies a stone gazebo surrounded by stone balustrades. Inside the hall sit twelve engraved folding screens. The pottery sculpture on the beams was renovated in 1981. 
  Memorial tablets of ancestors were placed on a 21-step wooden shelves in the Back Hall, which was once used for worship of ancestors. In the rooms sit 7-meter-high wooden-carved niche covers.
  Buildings are separated with "Qingyun alleys" (Chinese: 青雲巷) and connected with corridors.
  The buildings in the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall are fully decorated with wood carving, stone carving, brick carving, pottery, plaster and iron engraving. The content of these decoration are mostly flowers, birds, Cantonese fruits and scenes in traditional dramas.
caption: Tablet of the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall
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